Even Through Tears
by Raserei Hojo
Summary: When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn’t sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then? Pregame and aftergame. Some fluff.
1. Prologue

**Title:** _Even Through Tears_  
**Author:** _Raserei Hojo_  
**Title:**_ Prologue_  
**Rating: **_PG-13_  
**Pairing:**_ ZidanexKuja_  
**Summary:** _When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn't sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then?_

* * *

Zidane stared with questioning eyes at Kuja, trying to read the older boy's mind. "Why do you look so sad?" he asked softly. 

"I am not sad. I am thinking. There is a difference, Zidane."

Zidane giggled. "Then you think lots and lots, big brother!"

Kuja sighed, running his fingers through his hair, and then looked down at Zidane. "When you mature, you will see the difference. Genomes do not feel sadness, and Genomes do not address their elders as 'big brother.' That is proof of them being loyal to Master Garland. If you talk that way around Master Garland, he will ban you from Gaia's monitors."

Zidane blinked. "But Master Garland loves me!"

Kuja looked away. "Master Garland loves no one but himself. He is a greedy man, Zidane. Must you learn the hard way?" Kuja quietly made his way to the terrace, walking slowly so that Zidane could follow. "One day you will see. One day, Garland will destroy something you care about." He plucked a piece of crystal from the artificial tree. "He will force you to watch everyone and everything you love die," he crushed the crystal in his hands and looked back to Zidane, "and he will smile victoriously as the first tear leaves your eyes."

Zidane disbelievingly shook his head. "Master Garland would never do that, big brother."

"He would. He can. He will." Kuja thrust the fine dust of the crystal into the air. It fell fast and hit the ground below without a sound. "This world is a wretched, horrible place. You have never left Terra, so you do not know the caress of the wind upon your face or the sensation of water that flows as a current."

Slowly, Zidane knelt down and pushed the gray dirt around with his index finger. "I don't mind it here. It's just…too bright, sometimes."

"Gaia is a beautiful place. The sky may be blue, but it changes! There are clouds and they run from the wind while the grass bows before the wind! The only thing the wind cannot move is the very earth itself; the mountains." Kuja's eyes grew distant.

"Can I go with you?" He tugged on Kuja's pant leg. "To Gaia. It sounds real pretty."

"Master Garland wants only me to go."

"But that's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Zidane." Kuja smiled faintly. "But know this—you and I, we are immortal. We have _souls_, Zidane! Living, breathing souls! Even if Master Garland succeeds, we will keep our souls. We won't die. But Master Garland has a limit on his life, just as the people of Gaia do."

"If Master Garland goes away, what will happen to Terra?"

"I will take care of it." Kuja nodded. "I will give the other Genomes souls as well! And you Zidane, you shall be Prince of the Genomes! What do you think of that, little one?" He rested a hand on Zidane's soft blonde head. "Will you be a prince with me?"

Zidane shook his head. "No! I wanna be king!"

Kuja gave a small smile. "All right. You can be king. I'll be Master Kuja."

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
_You thought I was dead, didn't you? Well… I kinda was. A particular someone on this site kinda killed my will to write for a while, but I am back now! Hopefully I can actually update before people mob me for being so lazy. And so you know, I am going to write chapter 2... or rather chapter 1 really, since this was a prologue, right now! So please, review! (Since I am assuming you already read. Hopefully, ne?) Sank you!_


	2. Heartbeat

**Title:** Even Through Tears  
**Author:** Raserei Hojo  
**Title:** Heartbeat  
**Rating: **PG-13  
**Pairing:** ZidanexKuja  
**Summary:** When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn't sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then?

_---_

_Why did I come back here…?_

Countless bones had snapped in his body, some of them Zidane had never even known he had. He could feel the roots wrapping around him and his brother, still trying to fight, still trying to drag Kuja down into the depths of hell. Zidane was drifting in and out of consciousness.

_Oh… That's right…_

They would both die soon if Zidane didn't do something. Anything. There was of course, a chance that Kuja was already dead. In fact, he had probably died before the roots came smashing through the wall of the Iifa tree. Probably seconds after his body gave up and his head shifted to the side, his face hidden from view.

_I didn't want Kuja to die alone._

"You can't have him!" Zidane shouted. He struggled, writhing as much as he could to free himself from the merciless roots. The entire Iifa tree shuddered, its roots flailing more violently. "You hear me!?" His voice was raspy, his breath ragged.

_I didn't want Kuja to feel useless._

"Come on, you stupid tree. You think you can take us down?" His fingers gripped the root coiling around his throat. "We're not letting Garland control us anymore!" For a moment, the Iifa tree settled down.

_I wanted him to know…_

"Ha! Damn tree!" He hoped it was dying. It was probably the first time he wanted something to die so badly. Even when he was chasing Queen Brahne…and even when Kuja had taunted him on Terra…never had he wanted them to die. They were people. They were living creatures. But this thing…this tree…it was just an object that couldn't resist Garland's spells. It was something that could not feel pain, and it was something that could not feel emotions.

..._that someone cared_...

Another shudder. The Iifa tree screeched loudly, almost as if it was growling. Its vines and roots fell limp and Zidane cast them aside. Huffing, he lay there, staring up at the ominous green tree. Alive or not, it was violent when it wanted to be. Dizzy, he slowly sat up, not wanting to question why the tree had stopped.

"Maybe the thing it was trying to kill…died…" He looked for anything that would give him a hint to where Kuja was—anything silver—afraid to actually find him. After all the trouble Zidane had gone through to come to the bottom of the great tree and rescue his Kuja, he had better be alive.

Zidane coughed, feeling warm, copper-tasting liquid spill into his mouth. He did his best to spit it out. "Definitely…not good." He swore, cursing the tree again, and feeling like an idiot for being bested by something so lifeless.

With a sigh, he collapsed into the dirt, splattering it with specks of blood. "I can't even sit up…" Pain shot through his chest and Zidane hissed in pain. His vision blurred and he cursed again. Blindly, he reached out. "Kuja…" All his fingers brushed against was slimy dirt.

…_that someone like him, someone that could understand him…cared._

---

Silence reached his ears as he opened his eyes. Everything was blurred together, forming fuzzy outlines of his surroundings. His wounds were either painless or gone entirely, which made him wonder how long he was unconscious for. It only felt like a couple of hours…maybe a day.

When he shifted, he felt something soft touching his hand. His first instinct was to immediately pull back, but he hesitated. That touch felt familiar, and as he stared at the white thing, his eyes focused more.

It was a pale hand. Full of trepidation, Zidane followed the hand, to the arm, to Kuja's almost peaceful face. His silver hair was messy and hanging limply in his face. His ocean-blue eyes were closed, and there was not a flicker of life behind those lids.

"Kuja…?" Zidane nearly demanded an answer. He grabbed his brother by the shoulders and shook him gently. "Come on. Get up." Gritting his teeth, he slammed his fists into the dirt. "Get up! I didn't come all the way down here for nothing!"

Kuja remained still. Not even his hair dared to move.

"Kuja! You—you _ruffian_!" He balled his hands into fists. "Come on, dammit! Make a retort!" He searched Kuja for any sign of life. Any small fracture of movement. Anything. When he could find none, he slowly rested his head on Kuja's chest.

He waited. After what seemed to Zidane an eternity, it came: _thump_.

It was weak, but it was there. Every four seconds, there was a _thump…thump…thump_. "You just like to make me worry, don't you?" He sounded exasperated, and Zidane knew it. Relieved, Zidane slowly stood and looked at his own arms and stomach.

The cuts were still there, but they were much smaller than they should have been. He looked at Kuja. "You didn't." Zidane looked to his cuts once more, then at Kuja again. "You didn't!" He looked back to his arms; where there had been dark bruises there were perfectly pigmented patches of skin. "You did!" If Kuja had been well, he would have punched him. Hard.

Zidane vigorously shook his head. "Calm down. I just gotta think. How the hell do I get outta here?" He looked up, smirking as the Iifa tree was still and silent as the grave. He could see the pathway he and his friends had used to get down there, but it was awfully far away. He would, of course, have to bring Kuja along.

He rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced at Kuja. "You're not gonna wake up til you're warm and cozy in some royal mansion's bed, are you?" Carefully, Zidane wrapped his arms around Kuja's waist and hoisted him up. He staggered back and landed on his rear, Kuja plummeting down with him.

"Geeze!" He gently pushed Kuja off of him. "You're heavy…" He furrowed his brows in concentration. "Well…" He reached over and quickly undid the latches for Kuja's top armor, sliding his brother out, and tried lifting Kuja up again. "Definitely much lighter."

His first steps were slow and unbalanced, but as he made his way to where the trail was, it got easier; the rocky areas grew smoother and easier to walk on. At one point, Kuja's tail tapped a few times against Zidane's leg. He thought it had been due to momentum or something, but he saw it try to wrap around his leg like a snake. Zidane stood still for a few seconds, watching the silver tail wrap securely around his leg. "So your tail really is silver." He looked to Kuja's face—still motionless. But since his tail was moving, Zidane had proof that Kuja was still hanging on.

After an hour, Zidane emerged from the Iifa tree, carrying Kuja on his back. It was easier, and it was the only way Zidane could scale the larger, thicker roots without leaving Kuja behind. The sun was just starting to set, enveloping the area with a warm, orange light.

He set Kuja gently on the ground and stretched. "That wasn't too bad." He rotated his shoulders, grimacing as his bones grinded together painfully. "Aha… I've still got a few broken bones." He turned to Kuja. "You didn't heal me properly! Some great mage you are!" Zidane tried to laugh, but it came out weakly when Kuja remained motionless. Even his tail was still.

Zidane sighed and knelt beside Kuja. "Come on… You've gotta wake up, Kuja. I don't know if I can carry you all the way to Maiden Sari." He cocked his head to the side. "If you can keep your clothes in tact even after all that, why can't you at least open your eyes?"

Putting his ear to Kuja's chest, he sighed. _Thump…Thump…Thump…_

"Hey…" Zidane whispered. "If I take a nap…you won't die on me, right?" He closed his eyes. "If you do die, you better not haunt me. I saved your life…kinda. Well, we're halfway to Maiden Sari anyway, so I basically saved your life."

_Thump._

_Thump._

_Thump._

---

"_Zidane!"_

_Zidane was sobbing. "No! They're not monsters! Tell him to stop! Please!"_

"_I…I can't."_

"_Please!"_

"_He won't listen to me!" He turned Zidane away; he didn't want someone so innocent to see the destruction beneath him. Pulling Zidane closer, burying the boy's face in his chest, he whispered, "But I swear, I won't let anyone ever hurt you."_

---

"Gah!" His eyes snapped open. "Stupid nightmares…" Zidane rested his head into his the palm of his hand. It was dark outside now, the wind starting to rush by faster. He shivered. "…Aw, crap. Kuja, you probably have pneumonia by now!"

Zidane took off his glove and pressed the back of his hand against Kuja's forehead. It was only slightly warm. "Maybe Genomes have a higher resistance to sickness, eh?" At least, that's what Zidane hoped. He slid his glove back on and took his ponytail down, putting the tie in his mouth as he combed his fingers through his hair. "Deserts really do get cold at night. Heh. Learn something new every day, I guess." He put his hair back into its pony tail and slid Kuja onto his back again.

He could feel it now. _Thump. Thump. Thump. _Probably, he thought, from having Kuja on his back for so long. Kuja's heartbeats didn't feel any stronger. They were slow and weak. Fragile.

Maiden Sari was farther away than Zidane had thought. It took him nearly two hours to reach it, and by then his remaining broken bones were twisted and felt like they were about to pierce his skin. This time Zidane nearly dumped Kuja on the ground outside the destroyed village. "Sorry," he muttered, and ventured inside.

The Moogles had all been asleep, but after a stern shout from Zidane, they all scurried over and offered him an array of healing items.

"Gee. At least you guys are kind enough to give us potions and stuff for free after we save the world. Got anything for broken bones though? My cuts aren't really that bad."

"We've got wood and tape," the littlest Moogle squeaked. "We can make you some splints. Which bones are broken?"

"All of 'em." Zidane rotated his shoulders. They cracked and grinded loudly. Zidane grimaced again. "Definitely some broken bones in my shoulder blades. I think there are one or two broken rib bones too…"

The Moogles nodded in agreement with Zidane. "Where is Lady Eiko?"

"Mm…" Zidane closed his eyes and thought. "Probably in Alexandria or Lindblum. Wherever Dagger went. Ah, don't worry, I'm sure she'll come back," he added after seeing the distraught Moogles.

"Well, you can have one of our newly built beds!" another Moogle squeaked. He hovered, tugging on Zidane's arm. "We built them so Lady Eiko and her friends wouldn't have to sleep on the floor."

"Haha… How…extremely generous of you all." He gently tugged his arm away from the Moogle. "Well, why don't you guys make me something to fix my broken bones; unless you know how to snap them back into place? Oh… And it'd be awfully nice if you would let Kuja rest in a bed too."

The Moogles shrieked. Zidane had known it would come; he had expected it ever since he began climbing out of the Iifa tree.

"Ku-Kuja!" they all stammered. "He's a bad person! A naughty man! Maiden Sari does not welcome evil people!"

Zidane rolled his eyes. "He's not evil."

"Yes he is! Lady Eiko said he blew up an entire planet!"

"Yeah, well… He was just angry."

The Moogles shrieked again, louder this time. "See! He's evil! Evil! What if that bad Kuja person gets angry again? Will he blow Gaia up too? He can't come into Maiden Sari! He can't! He can't! He can't!"

"He's not gonna blow up Gaia! He's weak! He's gonna get _sick _if you don't help him!"

The Moogles shook their heads fiercely. "No! No bad guys allowed!"

"Fine!" Zidane angrily shouted. "Then I'm sleeping outside the village. If you guys won't take Kuja, you might as well not take me." He turned and stalked towards the entrance, his tail lashing angrily behind him.

"Wait!" they called after him. "If Lady Eiko finds out, she'll get angry!"

Zidane knelt beside Kuja and felt his forehead again with the back of his hand. It was warmer than before, and his face was starting to flush. "I don't care. If Kuja can't stay, I'm not staying. I won't abandon him—he's my brother. If it weren't for him, Eiko wouldn't even be alive! Me and everyone else would have died in that last battle!"

"But… But if it weren't for Kuja… Terra would still be there, and Queen Garnet would still have her mother… A lot of places would still be standing."

"Shut up!" He glared at the Moogles. "If it weren't for Kuja, I would have grown up on Terra! I never would have met any of you! Whether he dumped me on Gaia out of greed or out of pity, it doesn't matter! I would have been just like him—I would have wanted power. I would have wanted to kill everyone! I wouldn't have cared! The destruction that Kuja did now would have been a hundred times worse if I had stayed on Terra."

The Moogles were silent for a long while. "…All right. He can stay." They floated up and went back to their rooms, leaving the tiniest Moogle to lead Zidane and Kuja to the new guest area. Zidane half-dragged Kuja along. "This will be your room…"

"…Look…" Zidane sighed and shook his head, placing Kuja on one of the beds. "I didn't mean to get angry and shout. It's just… You can't understand. I know Kuja. He didn't do the things he did because he was evil. Maybe he was afraid, or he didn't want to be controlled by Garland anymore. But…of all things…Kuja is not evil."

"I'm sorry, Zidane. We just…wanted to be careful. You know?"

"I know." Zidane looked at Kuja; he was still as ever. "Hey… If you can manage some cool, damp cloths… That would be great."

The Moogle nodded and hurriedly flew away. Zidane's shoulders were not in pain anymore. His entire body was numb. When the Moogle returned, he used the first cloth to clean Kuja's face and arms off, and the second to place on his forehead.

With a bare face and the lack of proper lighting, Kuja's face looked nearly translucent. Zidane lightly brushed the silver hair from Kuja's face.

_Thump._

"Goodnight, Zidane." The Moogle flew off again.

"G'night…"

---  
**Author's Note:** _See! I'm alive! It only took me about a week to update it, and with over 2400 words! Hooray for an update that didn't take months. Please review!_


	3. The View From The Beach

**Title:** Even Through Tears  
**Author:** Raserei Hojo  
**Title:** The View From The Beach  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** ZidanexKuja  
**Summary:** When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn't sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then?

* * *

"_Fire is the spirit of all living things. Without the warmth and energy of fire, there would be nothing. The world would be dead. If Terra dies, we die as well."_

"_I wanna make magic fire too, big brother!"_

"_Hush, Zidane. Fire cannot be _made_. It merely takes form because of the already existing energy."_

"_Show me! Please?"_

_Kuja sighed. "You are too young to use magic." When Zidane frowned, Kuja quickly added, "I am sure you can create the fire, but you are too young to be able to control it. When fire is created, it spreads very quickly."_

"_Well… How do you control the fire?"_

_For a long while, Kuja was silent. "Your mind must be calm and your thoughts must be full of whatever it is that you are trying to create."_

_Zidane grinned. "So if I'm real quiet and think real hard, then I can make fire?" He spun around in a circle three times, throwing his arms this way and that. On his third spin he stopped, thrust his arms out and shouted, "Fire!" Not even the tiniest of embers appeared. "Where's the fire…?" he mumbled._

_Kuja smiled and shook his head. "No, silly… Not like that…" He sat on the ground and gestured for Zidane to do the same. "Magic is not about fancy movements, nor is it about presentation or commanding an element with your voice at all. Magic is the ability to _sense_ the energy around you. It is the ability to take that energy and put it into a different form."_

_Zidane rested his head against Kuja's shoulder. "You know so much, big brother. Someday, I wanna be like you."_

"_No, you do not want to be like me."_

"_But you're the smartest Genome ever made! You go to Gaia every morning and you tell me everything you learn there. I wish you would let me go with you. It sounds fun!"_

"_Well, for now, how about focusing on casting a spell. You think fire is pretty, right? Imagine its heat, and each flame gently caressing your skin."_

_Zidane tightly shut his eyes. _Fire_, he thought. _Red fire. Pretty red flames….

* * *

"Ah, so Zidane the Invincible is a pyro?" 

Zidane opened his eyes and saw Lana, her face barely an inch away. "Geeze… So there _are _people here in Maiden Sari." With a groan, he set up and stared blearily at her.

"You pulled quite a stunt back there," she said, her voice full of admiration. She sat on the bed that Kuja had been on the night before. "I'm amazed you're alive."

Zidane looked at her and then to the bed she sat on. "…When did you get here?"

"Oh, a couple hours after you fell asleep, I guess." She ran her hands along the cotton blanket, smoothing it out. "The Moogles said that you hurt your back or something…"

"Naw, I'm fine. All I need is one good Curaga and I'll be set." He bit his lip for a moment. "What happened to Kuja?"

"He's around here somewhere. All the Moogles fled when he walked out of the room. I almost did too but…" She closed her eyes and frowned deeply. "His eyes looked different than I had imagined. There was no rage in those depths."

Zidane's heart began to soar. His trek into and out of the Iifa tree was not a waste after all. "I didn't think he'd be able to walk or anything, at least not so soon."

"Yes, well, there are some people that recover their walking ability after three days." Lana glanced at Zidane and smirked. "Don't gawk at me like that. I'm not kidding. It's been at least three days, and that's how long I've been here. Kuja woke up this morning, and I'd guess it would be about 3 o'clock in the afternoon about now."

"I feel like I'm in Lindblum again after that fall." He thought about how his friends had been so worried about him; how they had cheered when he had entered the meeting room. He wondered if the reason Dagger had lost her voice back then was partly because of him, too. Although unlikely, it was still a comforting thought.

"Oh! That reminds me." Lana hefted a bag from the corner of the room onto Kuja's bed and emptied its contents out. "I bought some clothes for you, enough for two weeks. It was over three thousand Gil, but… I think I'll give you a Hero privilege and you can pay me back later."

"Heh… Thanks." Zidane looked at the heap of clothes on the bed. "You know, you really didn't have to do that."

"I know. It wasn't so much as for you as it was for Kuja. It gets cold here at night, and he probably would freeze to death if he walked around half-naked like he does."

Zidane nodded. "That makes sense. Hell… It makes me wonder how he hasn't already frozen to death."

Lana jabbed her thumb towards the dresser in the corner of the room. "Kuja put his clothes on the left side, so you can take the right. Or if you really wanted to, you could dump all of Kuja's clothes out and put yours there; I really don't care."

"I don't want to risk a Firaga. He's probably still weak, but I bet he could kick my ass if it was just me and him, one-on-one." Zidane lugged his new clothes, save a blue shirt and a pair of jeans, over to the dresser and hastily stuffed them inside the drawers on the right. "Can you leave for a sec?"

"You're a guy!"

Zidane lashed out his tail. "So? I'd leave the room if _you_ wanted to change."

Lana rolled her eyes and walked outside after hurling a pair of scissors at Zidane. "You probably want those."

Zidane dodged the scissors that buried itself into the wall. "Temperamental…" He cut the hole into his pants for his tail, changed his clothes, and tossed the old ones into a dark corner. When he was pleased with his appearance, he stuck his head outside the room. "Mind if I head out and look for Kuja?"

"Good luck finding him. After he changed his clothes and walked out of the room, he's been out 'thinking'."

Zidane shrugged. "I'm sure I'll find him. I doubt he's strong enough to actually get anywhere, and I don't think he's ready to run away just yet." After flashing a smile, he added, "And thanks. I appreciate you not going psycho on Kuja."

Lana rolled her eyes again. "Well, you guys didn't kill me. I figured that maybe I could do the same for him."

After he left the guestroom and ducked under the door to head outside, a wave of heat struck him in the face. "Cold at night, hot in the day. Figures. Well, I guess all the stuff Blank said about deserts was true."

He walked around the village for a while, noting that the destruction from over ten years ago was still present. It always had been. "Maybe I can help them clean Maiden Sari up a bit more. Bet the Moogles would like that. Eiko too."

Zidane had been wrong about Kuja. He searched the main section of the village, the surrounding area, and even the Summoner's Wall in case Kuja had decided to repent. In the end, he gave up looking for Kuja and hopped down to the docks.

It was silent at the small beach, the ocean barely touching the toes of Zidane's boots. The ocean was a deep blue and sparkled in the sun's light. There was a row of boats floating in the water, all of them tied to the wooden dock that was over the shallowest part of the water. Kuja was sitting in the boat farthest away from the dock.

"Oh, of course. The moment I stop looking for him, I find him." Zidane walked to the edge of the beach and called out to Kuja. "Glad you're awake!"

Kuja lifted his head and looked at Zidane. Even from the shore, Zidane could see there was a change in Kuja's face. It looked empty and full of despair. Zidane looked at his brother, noting on his shoulders seemed to slouch and how his hands were balled into tight fists and were resting on his lap. Carefully stepping into a boat, Zidane carefully jumped from boat to boat until he finally made it to the last one.

When he jumped on the boat, it shifted, and almost capsized. When it settled itself again, Zidane sat on the small bench across from Kuja and looked at him. "Are you all right?"

Kuja said nothing. Instead, he turned his face away and looked at the water.

"Hey… I know you're probably upset but…you can let it out. I'll listen." Zidane offered a frail smile and rested his hand on Kuja. "You can tell me anything you want. You can scream, you can yell, you can whisper. I don't care."

The ocean's waves gently crashed against the boat, rocking it. From above, a seagull cried out, followed by another seagull's cry. Kuja's fists tightened as he turned his head again to meet Zidane's gaze. "I was not supposed to live."

"That's not true. If you weren't supposed to live, then you wouldn't be here now."

"Even so." Kuja dipped his fingers into the water. "The world will not accept me, Zidane. It cannot and it never will. I do not have a place here. I never did to begin with."

"You said you realized what it means to live. Back at the Iifa tree… When you thought you had lost everything. Remember?"

Kuja slowly nodded. "Of course. I thought I was going to die. I probably would have if it were it not for you."

"Losing everything is not part of living. It's about experiencing new things! It's about love and romance and eating fine foods. It's about doing what you love to do, Kuja! I'm sure if Garland hadn't made you a puppet, you would have been like me."

"Unfortunately," Kuja murmured, "I am unable to do those things."

"Aw, come on! Don't be so negative!"

"You just cannot possibly understand!" It was the first time Kuja had raised his voice. "Even if I was given the chance to do all those things—Even if… Even if I experienced new things and had the love and the romance I've read about so many times, it would not matter."

"Yes it would! Just what is it that I'm not understanding?"

"You heard Garland! 'Do you think a defect like you could last forever?' "

Zidane sighed. "Nobody lasts forever… I'll die too, someday."

" 'There's a limit to your life... You'll be dead soon... Even as I die, you'll have died without ever leaving your mark on the world,' " Kuja echoed. " 'You were created to destroy. You are a mortal.' "

"So what if he said soon? I dunno, maybe he looked into the future. Maybe he thought you were gonna die at the Iifa tree."

"If Garland could see into the future, Garland would not be dead, now would he?"

"Well…I guess he'd still be alive."

"He did not know what would happen after Memoria. Garland may have known that I would lose against you, but he could not have predicted the Iifa tree's actions; or your actions for that matter."

"Dammit, Kuja! That's not the point! You're here! You're alive _now_. So…stop sulking. I saved your life, didn't I? Don't you owe me a favor?"

Kuja narrowed his eyes. "I did not ask for your pity, and it was of your own choice to rescue me. You could have been killed because of me, you idiot! And you are one life I did not want to end."

Zidane smiled pleasantly. "You still owe me a favor."

"What kind of hero saves a life and demands a reward?"

"It's not a reward, it's a favor!"

"It is the same thing."

"Thieves have different analogies! Now, I want you to stop being depressed. You're gonna live and you're gonna enjoy it. I know I can't _make _you be happy, but…try, okay? The looks on your face are so intense, I feel whatever you're feeling too. Got it?"

Kuja sighed and stared back at the water. "I can try."

"Good! Just pretend that you're an actor and you're playing the part of the hero."

Kuja raised a brow. "You shall play the hero, and I shall play the antagonist. You can be Mr. Sunshine-And-Roses, I will be the evil villain."

"Isn't that kinda how it is now?"

Kuja smiled. "Exactly."

Zidane stood up and spread his arms wide. "A hug, if you please."

"Ahaha… No."

"What? Come on! I've always wanted a real big brother I could hug!"

Kuja crossed his arms. "Look somewhere else."

"Don't make me come over there and forcibly hug you."

"I would honestly like to see you try."

Zidane smirked and lunged for Kuja. He leaned back to dodge, but Zidane landed on top of him. Kuja struggled to squirm free, when finally the boat capsized.

After a full five minutes of trying to free themselves from under the boat without killing each other, Zidane managed to turn the boat right-side up and climbed back in. He wrung out his hair and looked at Kuja who was clinging to the boat for dear life.

"Are you going to gawk at me or are you going to help me back on?"

"Ah, poor little Kuja can't swim?"

Kuja growled.

"I'll help you on one condition."

"Seriously, what kind of hero are you?"

Zidane grinned. "If you give me a hug in return."

"I would rather drown."

"Suit yourself!"

"Zidane!"

"I'm serious!"

"I may not be able to swim in the ocean, but I _can _put you back in it about ten miles away. Remember that nice teleportation magic?"

Zidane nodded slowly. "Well, maybe a hug isn't that important." He grabbed Kuja's hands and tugged him back into the boat. "But if you can't swim, why'd you come all the way out here?"

Kuja shivered and rubbed his arms. "It was peaceful. Well… it was peaceful before you got here. Those small Moogles kept staring at me, and I hate it when people do that."

"Well… How about we go back to the guest house and ask those evil Moogles for food?"

Kuja stood up and gestured for Zidane to do the same. "All right. I suppose I am a bit hungry."

Zidane stood up and grinned. He stepped toward Kuja, ready to hug him, but Kuja shoved Zidane back into the ocean. Kuja tossed his hair behind his shoulders and carefully made his way back to the shore using the boats as steps. "See you there!"

"Kuja!" Zidane smacked the water with his hands. "I'll get you back!"

Kuja laughed and shook his head, walking up the stairs to the guest house. "Maybe in a couple years when you master the art of pushing people into boats before someone hugs you."

* * *

**Author's Note:** _Hooray! Chapter 3! I'm so proud of myself for updating on a weekly basis. This one has over 2500 words in it, so that makes me happy! I wrote half of it in school and the other half at home. If I could just get inspiration to write like this every day (I almost always write my updates in one day), my stories would be so long! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 3! Please review! I love to hear comments from you guys. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!_


	4. A Memory

**Title:** Even Through Tears  
**Author:** Raserei Hojo  
**Title:** A Memory  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** ZidanexKuja  
**Summary:** When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn't sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then?

* * *

**(Flashback)**

The silence of Pandemonium's observatory pressed against Kuja's ears. He stood carefully on one of the castle's many ledges, hidden, staring down at his little brother. The brat that Kuja had so long ago left to rot on Gaia. He wasn't quite sure exactly _why _he had saved Zidane. It was partly out of anger and jealousy, he supposed, but there was something…_else_.

Whenever Kuja gazed into those determined, sky-blue eyes, he could not feel the slightest bit of rage. Zidane's eyes had always captivated him with their innocence. All he could feel was a sorrow with no explanation. Looking into Zidane's eyes made him feel guilty. Almost.

Finally, the silence was broken. "What is this?" Zidane's voice echoed.

"Think of it as an observatory. A place to measure the radiance of Gaia and Terra," Garland answered as though he had been waiting to explain the observatory all along.

"What are you talking about?" asked Zidane, his voice soft. "And what is this weird light?"

Inwardly, Kuja sighed. No, of course Zidane could not understand Garland's plan. He hadn't been trained his entire life for the mission. He didn't have the entire blueprint of the plans burned into his mind.

And Garland! That stupid old man was spewing forth his plans like some crazed lunatic! Masterminds did not tell their enemy the Master Plan. Doing that only meant defeat. With narrowed eyes, Kuja stayed motionless as Garland continued to explain his plan of Terra and Gaia's assimilation.

Then it happened. Garland turned to Zidane, his cape billowing proudly behind him. He said, with a powerful, commanding voice, "You have the power, the position, and the motive to do it." Garland smiled fondly at his creation, his wonderful little Genome that would surely listen to him—obey him.

Kuja clenched his fists at his side. No little second-generation Genome was going to take his place! Zidane wasn't content living an ordinary, peaceful life on Gaia, oh no. He had to stick his nose into other people's business and go all goody-two-shoes because he wanted to find _his home_.

Kuja teleported from the observatory to the entrance where he could not be heard. "After all I have done for him, and after all the times I have let him freely escape, he turns against me! He knows I am his 'brother' now, and still he acts as though I am vermin. He is the vermin!"

What was he supposed to do? Even if Zidane was willing to kill his own brother, Kuja wasn't quite sure if he could do the same. Zidane did, after all, have a valid excuse. To him, Kuja was the bad guy—the person to be taken out to save the world. Kuja knew fully well what he had done, specifically to Queen Brahne, to Alexandria, to Lindblum…

Kuja took a several deep breaths to steady himself. "To Zidane, I am the villain. But does he not realize that to me, he is the villain? Does he not realize he is getting in the way of _my _life, and _my _purpose? To me, he is the villain! And yet, I cannot bring myself to cause him harm… I still feel the same way I did twelve years ago, when I left Zidane on Gaia. I could have killed him but…" He sighed heavily. "But I let him live."

Zidane's painful scream ricocheted off the walls of the castle, and Kuja jerked his head up. Curious, Kuja walked along the path back to the observatory. He would have teleported back, but he wasn't quite sure which way Garland was looking. Kuja peered around the corner, feeling childishly as he did so, and took in the scene before him.

Zidane was sprawled on the steps, most likely unconscious, and Garland stood victoriously above him. But Garland's face was none too happy, he looked almost disappointed. "He's too good to make into a regular Genome... But I have no choice." Garland snapped his fingers, and at once a palpable light wrapped itself around Zidane and vanished with him.

For a moment, Kuja was relieved. He knew what Garland meant, and where he had taken Zidane. If Zidane was made into a regular Genome, he would no longer oppose Garland, or himself for that matter.

_It would not be as much fun without Zidane, though, _Kuja admitted to himself. _After all, what will Gaia do without a hero? _He closed his eyes and concentrated, and through his mind he focused on Zidane's aura and life force. His little brother sat upon a large throne made not for a king, it seemed, but for the devil itself. As Kuja focused harder, he could feel particles of Zidane's soul draining away.

Suddenly, the front entrance doors to Pandemonium Castle's doors burst open. Kuja snapped to awareness, glaring towards the entrance hall. "Of course. Zidane is never far away from his friends. I will humor them and let them think they can manage to save him." Kuja vanished with a dry smile from the observatory to the throne room.

"You know, little one, the throne you sit upon is rightfully mine. But all you manage to do is get into my way and steal from me…" Kuja leaned over Zidane and stared thoughtfully at him. "I could just leave you here. You would never wake up."

The faint echoing of voices reached Kuja's ears, and he frowned gently. "Your friends would be very sad, would they not? And then who would be the hero of Gaia? Some unworthy human?"

Zidane remained motionless, growing paler as the seconds ticked by.

"Ah, I suppose this is not the time for a monologue, dear brother. But I will give one final gift to you, so you can play the hero and I can play the villain." Kuja tapped his heart with his knuckles. "After all, it is much more exciting that way." And with that, Kuja delicately pinched his forefinger and thumb together and extended his arm, drawing forth a silver stream of light. He snapped it and carefully formed it into a ball.

He waited, ignoring the approaching footsteps. Zidane's heart finally stopped beating. Knowing fully well that if he left, Zidane would be out of the way forever, Kuja decided that being a villain without a hero was a boring idea. He pushed the ball of light into Zidane's chest and whispered, "The body is no longer a vessel. May the old soul return!"

Kuja staggered forward as the spell drained his energy. The footsteps were drawing closer, and Kuja knew that he was in no condition to fight all of his comrades at once. A good hour of rest and he would be fine. With a haggard breath, Kuja surrounded himself with glimmering lights of purple magic and vanished. In his wake, a silver dragon's feather floated to the floor, just as Eiko and Vivi burst into the room.

* * *

**(Present)**

Kuja idly pushed the poorly prepared food around with the tip of his fork. _I guess I was not incredibly chivalrous in Pandemonium. I only wanted someone to play the part of my enemy. If I had not saved him then, I would not be here either… Should I be grateful?_

"Hey Kuj', you okay?"

Kuja sighed and lowered his head. "Please Zidane; my name is only two syllables long with a mere four letters. I really do not think I need a nickname."

Zidane laughed and nodded his head as though agreeing. "I see."

"You see _what_?"

"You just can't come up with your own nickname for me! I call you "Kuj'" or "Kujie" and you think to yourself, 'Now why can't I think up something so insanely terrific like that?'"

Kuja stared blankly at Zidane, dropping his fork onto his plate.

"Aha! It's okay, Kujie-kins, I'll come up with all the cool nicknames, and when you get enough experience, you can call me by a nickname!"

"I have a nickname for you," Kuja dully replied.

"Oh?" Zidane leaned across the table. "What? What is it?"

"Idiot. Oh! And then there is stupid, moron, dimwitted, thickheaded, shall I go on?"

"Those are all just synonyms. You can't come up with anything different!" Zidane smiled brightly, choosing to ignore the fact he was called stupid five times in quick succession. And by his own brother!

Kuja pressed a hand to his forehead. "Honestly, you are giving me such a headache… Sometimes I think I would rather be unconscious and not listen to your gratuitous ramblings of nicknames and games and other sorts of childish nonsense."

"Oh, come on, Kuja! I just don't want you to frown like that! I didn't grow up rich, so I really don't know how to entertain you." Zidane tapped his chin thoughtfully, his tail swinging back and forth, keeping the same rhythm. "Well, I guess you really didn't grow up as a noble either, but still, judging from the way you dressed, you had to have some kinda money somewhere."

"Zidane, do not be foolish. Garland did not just hand money to me. I had to steal it."

"Whoa—! Did you say _steal_!" Zidane stared across the table, wide-eyed.

"I really could not have cared less for the lives of others. I needed to survive, and they had the things I needed. I robbed a nobleman blind, stole his identity, and with that, I took over the auction house and made a profit of my own."

Zidane frowned lightly. "You know who you talk like?"

"A sophisticated individual, I would hope."

"Well, yeah. But you talk a lot like Dagger did, back when we called her Garnet."

Kuja went back to shifting his food around with the fork. "So you are saying I talk like a sixteen year old princess."

"Well, uh… Yeah? I guess? You just… You really don't ever use any contractions. It's all 'do not' and 'cannot' and 'have not.' You do know you can put two words together, right?"

"I am fully aware of that reasoning. I simply choose not to do so."

"Well, when we get outta Maiden Sari and head to another town that has…well, people, they're going to notice you talk different."

"Differently," Kuja corrected

"Whatever! It isn't whether or not I talk with proper grammar, but that I can be understood!"

Kuja could feel the contradiction coming on. "So if all that matters is that I can be understood, then there is no problem. Correct?"

Zidane hung his head, at a loss. "I guess. I wish Rusty was around; he was fun to play mind games with. What I wouldn't give to be hanging from some tall place by my tail while Rusty would be below me and trying to jump, screaming "DON'T YOU TOUCH THE PRINCESS!" Zidane chuckled at the thought.

"I think I've lost my appetite…"

"Ah! A contraction!"

Kuja glowered. "Probably because I've been around you for far too long. After being unconscious for who knows how long, and then feeling mentally drained, followed by being even further mentally drained, I really do think I need sleep. And yes, I have strung together two words to make the word _I've. _Now _I'd _like to go to bed!" Kuja stood from the table and stalked to the bedroom.

"Geeze… What in the world is wrong with him? He didn't even eat a mouthful of food…" Zidane crossed his arms and frowned. "Did I really piss him off that much?"

* * *

Kuja collapsed onto the bed and closed his eyes. His head pounded in protest to the quick motion, insisting that it was going to blow up. Kuja ignored the pain and instead opened his eyes to glare at the wall. 

"He is so carefree… And he does not seem to mind that I _only _blew up the home he had looked for his entire life, and then nearly blew up the entire universe itself." Kuja rolled onto his back and flung his arm across his forehead. "I feel rather ill…"

_Of course you feel ill. After all, you're going to die soon._

Kuja instantly bolted straight up, the fur on his tail sticking out. "G-Garland…?"

For a few minutes, Kuja could hear nothing but the sound of blood rushing through his veins. And then, _Yes, Kuja?_

"You're not going to play mind games on me," Kuja whispered loudly. "I know you're dead. You've got to be dead. You were on Terra. I blew up Terra. You—are—_dead_!"

_Am I dead? Hm, who knows, for sure? You're a Mage, Kuja, and surely you can feel your own life draining away fast. When it's depleted, and you see me afterwards, then I suppose you will have your answer as to whether or not I am dead._

"Get out of my head!" He didn't want to think about dying, not when Zidane had made it _fact _that he was going to live a wonderful life free of the chains of Terra!

"Kuja?" Zidane called from the dining room. "Are you okay?"

"…I'm fine!" Kuja replied in a soft, whining tone. His fingers tightly gripped the rough bed sheets. "I have to be hallucinating…"

_Think what you'd like, Kuja, but you're running out of time. The grains of sand are almost gone._

"Sh-Shut up! You cannot tell me when I'm going to die! Even if you made me, you cannot _possibly _know!" Kuja was not going to have the fragile hope he had worked so hard for be taken away from him again.

Garland's voice was silent now. Kuja swallowed hard and hugged the ratty pillow to his chest. "I'm hallucinating… I have to be… There is no other excuse, because Garland is de…"

Like paint, the walls dripped to the floor, revealing Maiden Sari in a way Kuja could remember quite clearly. The sky was pitch black and rain poured from the heavens, showering Kuja with icy cold water. Lightning streaked across the sky in a way that looked oddly familiar to Kuja, making its way across the sky like a serpent.

"What is this…?" But he knew that he was still in Maiden Sari, standing in the middle of the town at the water fountain that was now overflowing. All around him, creatures launched themselves at once into the sky. Kuja followed them with his eyes, dreading where they were going.

In one magnificent motion, the sky was lit up with a single glowing red eye. The planet itself seemed weighed down by its gaze. Beams of colorful light crashed into the creatures, what Kuja knew to be the Eidolons. One by one, the creatures fell from the sky, disintegrating before they ever touched the earth.

"This is horrible," Kuja breathed. Unable to bring himself to move, he watched helplessly as the Summoners of Maiden Sari rushed past him. When they realized their great creatures could not destroy the Invincible's Eye, they began to flee. But the eye grew larger, sending even more powerful beams of light towards the village.

"Hurry! This way, Sara!"

Kuja turned his head and felt his body pull forward towards the voice. He ran down the steps and to the docks, where the water was high and giant waves crashed onto the shore. And he felt something painful stab at his chest—a premonition. A woman and a little girl were getting into an old fishing boat.

"Don't go," he shouted at them. But the woman and child ignored him. After all, it seemed idiotic to stay in a village that was going to be destroyed. "You'll die!"

_Quick, Kuja, save them, save them! _Garland's voice echoed.

The little girl, Sara, looked over her shoulder and stared at Kuja. She smiled at him, despite what was happening all around her. "We're not going to die. My mother will protect me."

"No! Your mother is going to die—she'll drown!" Kuja ran to the boats and reached for the mother's hand. He wasn't going to let someone he could save die. He knew that the little girl… That Sara… She would be sad….

In his head, Kuja could hear his own voice gently murmur, "Please, look away."

* * *

"Don't go!" 

"Kuja, I'm not going to go anywhere…"

Like a bubble, the world _popped _and was replaced with Zidane's face. Kuja's chest heaved, his hands tangled in his hair, his jaw clenched tightly, and his eyes wide and hysteric. "Zidane, they—" Kuja struggled to breathe, "I let them die!"

"Kuja, what happened…? You said you were fine, and then all of the sudden you started screaming for someone not to go away…"

Kuja took a few minutes to calm himself, staring around the room as if the walls might melt again. "It…was nothing." His breaths were haggard now, and his face flushed red with embarrassment. Kuja realized how ridiculous and childish he must have looked. "Really, Zidane, I am… I'm fine."

"You said that last time, remember?" Zidane gently brushed his gloved thumb across Kuja's forehead. "You look sick, and you're all sweaty…"

"I said I'm fine. I'll just take a bath and go back to bed."

"Kuja…"

Kuja slowly lowered his hands and forced his face to relax. His eyes still shimmered with fear though, and knowing so, he pulled away from Zidane and walked out of the room.

Zidane sighed heavily and looked at the bed sheets. "They're totally drenched in sweat… I guess I should change them." Zidane gathered the bed sheets in his arms and pondered where he could take them to get them washed. "Huh… Smells like rain…"

* * *

**Author's Note: **_I know, I know! I'm bad person that writes so many stories and never ever updates! So I tried to make this one extra long! It's 3062 words, so I hope that makes up for the lack of updates for all my stories… Please leave a review! It gives me inspiration and helps me actually update!_


	5. Competition

**Title:** Even Through Tears  
**Author:** Raserei Hojo  
**Title:** Competition  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Pairing:** ZidanexKuja  
**Summary:** When Zidane woke up, he was in excruciating pain. It was eerily dark with small patches of glowing green light. Beside him was a figure, but Zidane wasn't sure if it was alive or not. What exactly happened back then?

* * *

Silence blanketed the small village of Maiden Sari that night. From the bed where Kuja lie awake, he could see the rubble of great towers that had fallen. The moonlight that slit through the tiny square windows suspiciously illuminated every crack and decrepit piece of stone that held the guesthouse together. 

"Mmm, I am honored to accept this award," Zidane groaned from under his pillow.

Kuja stared blankly at his brother for a few moments. "You're not supposed to speak so fluently when you're sleeping." He pulled himself to his knees and crawled to the edge of his bed, peering closer at Zidane. "Then again, you never did submit yourself to human standards…"

"For making…" Zidane cooed. His tail coiled lazily around his leg.

"For making what, Zidane? The record number of girls you've dated at a single time?"

"For making Kuja _go to sleep,_" Zidane responded, glaring at his older brother with an icy blue eye.

Kuja's face fell. "You know, spying on me really is not all that amusing."

"How can I sleep when you keep tossing and turning and sighing these great big heavy _siiiighs_," Zidane retorted, repositioning his head on top of the pillow. "I'm worried about you. You _and _your lack of contractions."

Kuja forced an exaggerated laugh. "How very thoughtful of you. The Hero Zidane, worried over a poor lowlife such as myself."

"Well, here's an even cheerier note: we're going to be leaving Maiden Sari soon."

"Oh…?" Kuja decided now was a good time to curl up in the middle of his bed. "And why would we be leaving?"

"C'mon, Kuja. Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you at all well. But we're leaving for Alexandria, remember? Dagger will be there, and Rusty, and probably Beatrix. You remember Beatrix, don't you?"

"The blondish brunette, right? General Beatrix?"

"Yeah, her!" Zidane hid his smirk with the pillow. "I'm surprised you remember her."

Kuja shot his brother an odd look, coupled with a frown that had grown ever-present. "Why would you be surprised? She was, after all, a beautiful, intelligent, and strong woman." He sighed and pulled the covers to his chin. "Unfortunately, she did not posses the same kind of intelligence Queen Garnet did at the time."

"I do believe Kuja had a little crush on the sexy general, eh?"

"I do believe you have completely lost your mind. She definitely is not the type of person that would interest me. As for Queen Garnet, in case you have forgotten, she's sixteen. That would make me a pedophile."

"Hey! What's wrong with sixteen year olds!"

"Zidane! _You're _sixteen. It would be legal for you to do…whatever it is you think of doing in that perverted head of yours, to the queen."

Zidane sprang up in his bed, and then pounced across the room, onto his brother. "Hey, you're not using your mind-reading abilities to see my thoughts, are you?"

Kuja barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Really, you definitely are not the kind of person that takes a _mage_ to see their thoughts… Oh, and perhaps, when Queen Garnet turns eighteen, I will snatch her up for myself."

"What!?"

"Hmm?" Kuja grinned innocently up at Zidane. "You know I have always been the type to look for competition."

Zidane scoffed. "I think I liked it better when you pranced around in your half-skirt and frivolous armor, and let's not forget, _the thong_."

"What's wrong with my old attire?"

"The fact that you hid your tail so easily when you weren't even wearing pants!"

"It's called _magic_, brainiac. Now could you please get off me? You exhaust me beyond all imagination!"

Zidane grinned and leaned back. "Mission accomplished." He patted Kuja on the head before going to his own bed, stretching all the way.

For a while, the two settled into a kind of content silence. But without conversation, the thoughts and questions sprang back into Kuja's mind, ready to spill from his lips. Finally, he felt he _had_ to ask his Zidane why he had even bothered to save the man that had threatened the very existence of the universe."Zidane…"

"Yeah?" Zidane murmured, wrapping himself with the blankets.

"You never really…told me why you saved me back there at the Iifa tree. I still don't understand it… Even now, you care so much, when I..." Kuja's fingers nervously tapped the sheets, and he mentally berated himself for creating such an awkward silence. It was a full minute before Zidane broke the silence.

"I saved you because I wanted to. Besides, you saved me before, when I was little, and then again in that world of nothingness, didn't you? If you hadn't put me on Gaia, I would have grown up with Garland. I would have been evil, and I never would have gotten to experience life the way I know it."

"Even so… Zidane, I am not worthy of such honor…"

"Please Kuja, don't be so hard on yourself. You're not evil… You never were. After all, you're the one who grew up on Terra. And don't take this the wrong way, but it was kinda like you didn't know any better, or couldn't do anything to escape Garland's will."

_Garland's will… I still can't escape it. He's haunting me, even when he's dead! _Kuja thought restlessly._  
_

"And besides," Zidane continued, "I'm a virtuous person. I couldn't leave you down there, even if you hadn't teleported us out of there. Do you know how freaked out I was when you passed out? I thought you had died! If you had, I would have tried to kill you again for making me do all that for nothing."

"I see…"

"So come on, Kuja! Cheer up a little. Tomorrow is a brand new day."

" 'Tomorrow is a day full of promise and sunshine. The day before turns to a memory and is slowly forgotten. But the current day will never truly end.' "

"Mmm… Lord Avon?"

"Of course. Lord Avon is my favorite playwright. He is also the Queen's favorite, if I am not mistaken?"

"Yeah…" Zidane murmured.

"Do you really miss her so much…?"

"Well of course I do! I mean, I really like her… I think it's not even that anymore, but love instead."

"Then perhaps I'll reconsider going to Alexandria… But I still need to rest for a while. In the mean time, we can plan your surprise entrance onto Alexandria's stage. Ah, perfect, a play…" Kuja's eyes shined with the thought of a play. Perhaps he would be able to sit in the audience while Zidane threw off a cloak and surprised everyone.

"And maybe then you'll tell me what happened to you last night?" Zidane asked hopefully.

"…Maybe. At any rate, the run will rise soon. We had best get to sleep."

"All right… G'night, big brother."

A frail smile found its way to Kuja's lips. "Good night, sweet prince."

* * *

"_Zidane…"_

"_Why did Master Garland do that?"_

_Kuja looked aside. He felt guilty, and rightly so. To make amends for his previous mistakes, he turned over a fraction of his notes on the Eidolons to Garland. That, of course, sparked the old man's studies of the strange and mythical creatures. When he found that the villagers of Maiden Sari could summon these great beasts…_

"_Kuja," Zidane sobbed, clinging to his brother's shirt with tiny fists, "why aren't any of them moving?! Why did they all stop?!"_

"_They're dead. Garland killed them and captured their souls. They will never be able to reincarnate in the world again."_

"_But Kuja!"_

_Kuja bent low and scooped up the boy whom he had grown very attached to. "Shh, it will be okay, Zidane… I will make sure of it. Even if it means taking you away from Garland, so you never have to see those horrible things again."_

"_I won't be able to forget it… It was terrible… All those monsters—all those people—!"_

"_But just think of how many more Gaians will suffer if we stay idle? We must act!"_

"_Big brother…"_

* * *

"C'mon, Kuja! Didn't you learn that it's bad manners for noblemen to stay in bed past noon!" 

Kuja gave an uncharacteristic _mmrph_ before burying his face deeper into his pillow. His entire body felt heavy and weak, and he was not in the mood to be dragging that heavy and weak body out of the somewhat comfortable bed. Not even if Zidane's hair was on fire.

"You've got a fever so you have to eat! I'm not sure whether it's 'starve a fever' or 'starve a cold,' but either way you have to eat something…!"

"I can eat in here."

"Grah! Kuja! If I had known you slept in so late, me and the others could have ambushed you at 8AM at your Desert Palace."

"_Hnn…_"

Zidane stomped his foot angrily, thinking up other excuses to get Kuja out of bed. "Lana's here!"

"I know," Kuja _mmphed _into his pillow.

"She's got food," Zidane whined.

"Like I said, I can eat it in here…"

"She's got wine!"

"Nobody drinks this early, except for the extremely dependent alcoholics." Kuja's tail almost nodded in agreement.

"She's got back!" Zidane urged.

"…_Excuse _me?"

Zidane nervously scratched the back of his head. "Did I say 'back?' I meant to say she has a lovely, curvaceous, voluptuous body, and extremely perky… uhm… Well, you know."

"I thought I was supposed to get breakfast."

"Why? Has the thought of Lana made your mouth water?"

"…No, not really." Kuja pulled the covers up over his head. "If you're not going to be polite and bring me my breakfast, then I will eat it later when I feel like getting up. And if you decide the Lana has _other _features that you would like to share with me, please write a letter and send it to this Rusty person you keep talking about."

"I never knew a guy who wouldn't leap out of bed for sex."

Kuja groaned into his pillow. "Your sixteen year old brain is over-producing the testosterone, right? And like I said _before_, it is barely noon! _Normal _people have sex at night. And in a bedroom. On more comfortable beds."

"You sure know an awful lot about this topic."

A pale hand rose from beneath the blankets, purple electricity pulsating around it. "Oh look, it seems I have enough magic left to cast an Ultima spell."

"Not that I'm saying you're experienced or anything! N—Not that you wouldn't be, it's just—Lana! How about that breakfast!"

* * *

Forty minutes later, Kuja had silently finished his breakfast (consisting of a slice of bread and part of a scrambled egg) before announcing he was full and would be going back to bed. He was still on edge, but slightly more relaxed than last night. 

While Kuja slept, or what was most likely a fake nap in the other Genomes opinion, Zidane mapped out a route from Maiden Sari to Alexandria. He then crumbled the map up and proceeded to make several maps with different routes. Either way, he would have to figure out how to cross an entire ocean, and virtually half of the world if he was ever going to be reunited with Dagger again.

"Zidane," Lana cooed as she made her way towards Zidane, carrying empty plates, "you're working awfully hard. Drawing pictures, are we?"

Zidane frowned. "I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but you and Kuja seem to treat me like I'm a complete and total moron."

"Aww, don't feel bad, darling. At least we don't despise you. Then we'd have to chop you up into little piece and then blast the pieces to dust!" Lana smiled and set the empty plates onto the table Zidane was working at. "So, what _are _you working so hard on?"

"Mapping out how to get from here to Alexandria… Neither of us have much money, so I was thinking we could head to the Black Mage Village for a while… At least there's people there. Oh! And the other Genomes too!"

"Wouldn't that bother Kuja?"

"Maybe, but… I want to see how everyone's doing." Zidane crossed his arms and nodded confidently.

"Maybe you should wait a little bit longer…? After all, I don't think Kuja's quite ready to meet his _own _creations, let alone _his _creator's creations."

"I guess you're right, Lana…"

"Or you could get him so drunk he can't think straight. That always works on most guys."

"Ehh… I really don't think Kuja's the kind of person to get hammered. He's more of the elegant 'having-all-meals-of-the-day-with-a-glass-of-wine-thank-you-very-much' kind of guy. Although, it is kinda funny imagining him completely trashed. I can see him with his hair all messy and him staggering around and—OW!"

Zidane delicately rubbed this forehead where the burst of pain had been.

_Quit talking about me like that, _Kuja growled telepathically.

"Ah, I guess Kuja agrees that he's the elegant type and not the drunken type," Lana said in a sing-songy voice.

_I do, _said Kuja's voice in the blonde's head,_ but if you keep being nonsensical, I will have to drink an entire bottle of wine to keep myself from slaughtering you several times over. The small pieces of your body after I've cut it all up should be in fear._

"Ech… Sorry, we should stop thinking and talking about Kuja. He'll zap us if we keep it up," Zidane said with a tone of resignation.

_Actually, I think I'll stick to 'zapping' just you. After all, that is much more entertaining._

"Poor Ziddy-kins is getting electrocuted by sick Kujie-kins!" Lana jested.

"Hmph. Okay, Kuja. Still with me?"

_Unfortunately. Why do you ask?_

"You said you like challenges, eh? Competitions?" Zidane leaned back on his heels, arms folded behind his back.

…_Yes. And?_

"Then I've got a great idea. If you win, we'll stay here for a few months and help rebuild Maiden Sari. If I win, we'll leave next week for the Black Mage Village."

_Or I could just not play at all and have my way still._

"Oho? Backing out now?"

A few moments later, Kuja slammed the bedroom door open. "Will you hush already! How can I sleep with you screaming in the next room?"

"I'm not screaming! Anyway, you're afraid of a little contest?"

"The only thing you could beat me at is an arm wrestling match, and that's if I played _fair_!"

Zidane nearly cackled, grinning mischievously. "So you agree to my terms?"

"Partially. Firstly, I refuse to leave Maiden Sari any sooner than a month, unless you intend to be the reason I fall over dead. Secondly, you have no chance of winning. I may be weak and somewhat ill, but I still have an arsenal of magic at my disposal."

"Oh, you won't need magic… Magic won't help you in the _least_, big brother."

* * *

**Authors Note: **_It's amazing! It's only been two weeks and this is another chapter!? Le gasp! Anyway, you may have/may not have noticed the nice titles and stuff up there. You know, the whole Zidane x Kuja pairing. Thing. Well, it's finally gonna happen! Next chapter!_


End file.
